Owen Yalandja is a senior member of the Dangkorlo clan, the custodians of an important yawkyawk site. The water spirits called Yawkyawk or Ngalkunburriyami are like mermaids. In the Kuninjku language, yawkyawk can also mean 'young woman'. In their mermaid form, yawkyawk are female spiritual beings, usually associated with powerful conception sites, within a clan's country. This dreaming place is so significant that the Dankorlo clan custodians have set up their outstation community near the site and the identity of this group  is very much related to their yawkyawk dreaming for which they have spiritual and practical responsibilities. Owen's are almost exclusively deals with the representation of the yawkyawk spirits near Barrihdowkkeng, usually depicted with the tails of fish. Another name used to describe these figures is ngalberddjenj which literally means 'the woman who has a tail like a fish'. Yawkyawks have long hair which is associated with trailing blooms of green algae found in freshwater streams and rock pools. At times, they leave their aquatic homes to walk about on dry land, particularly at night. (Apolline Kohen, 2002)

Owen Yalandja was awarded the Wandjuk Marika Memorial 3D Award at the 2025 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards with a sculpted Yawkyawk figure.